Israel: Northern

May 26, 2017

Chodesh tov, wishing you a joyful new month, dear readers! Every month on the Jewish calendar has its own special qualities, and the first day of the month, rosh chodesh, is a mini holiday of sorts. We have a special affection for the cycle of the year and the numerous celebrations it includes as well as the periods of mourning and fast days to remember the sad times. As it turns out, the month of Sivan contains the special holiday of Shavuot, on which we celebrate the giving of the Torah, and receive the Torah each and every year. The four days between the beginning of the month of Sivan and the holiday of Shavuot are very special, and so I just had to smile when my son called me outside to witness the stunning sunset yesterday evening, marking the beginning of this period. We do see sunsets like this now and again, but this time the intense orange sky was so nicely placed beside the mountain making it a perfect image for Shavuot!

May 19, 2017

The fields of Northern Israel are indeed a world unto their own, and I just love to watch the progressive show as wildflowers and maidenhair fern and thistle, to name a few, each bloom during their own special time slot, only to dry up and be replaced by the next species in line. It really is truly magnificent, and while of course this show has a general theme that is the same year to year, this year I noticed that a particular yellow dasy-like wild flower seems to have really taken over, and the hills are golden and lovely, well at least they were two weeks ago when I took these!

For those of you who don't know what you are looking at, well the mountain is Mount Meron, the second tallest mountain in Israel. The white buildings on the left at the base of the mountain are the gravesite of Rebbi Shimon Bar Yochai, and the site of the Lag B'Omer festivities that took place on Saturday night and Sunday. In the foreground of the photo is portion of the ancient cemetary in the Holy City of Safed (also spelled Tsfat, Tzfat,Tzefat, Zefad because there is no agreement apparently on how to write the hebrew letter tsadi, which is also called sade, tzade.....oh dear!) This cemetary holds the gravesites of many very great figures in Jewish history. Burials took place here thousands of years ago, and there is a new section where burials take place today, well you know what I mean, not today hopefully, but on a given day when some one leaves this world after living a long fulfilling life.

April 21, 2017

Above:A Roman era sarcaphogus, not actually used to bury Devorah, but the same location was used for hundreds even a thousand years after Devorah for burial as well.

During the week of Passover we were fortunate to have enough lovely weather (though quite a bit rain as well) to venture out a bit and do some exploring here in Northern Israel, not far from home. The Galil, especially the area close to Lebanon is lush and lovely in the Spring, and this time we went to visit the gravesite of Devorah (Deborah, yes THE Deborah) the Prophetess, located in a place call Tel Kedesh, about 500 meters from the border of Lebanon. It is truly amazing if one starts to realize just how much history we have here in Israel! Fields dotted with wild flowers and a lovely spot with virtually no people made the experience even more special! Now that i've done a bit of research, after having visited this spot, and realizing that we actually missed a whole large archaeological excavation near by, we will just have to go back again, hopefully soon!

April 13, 2017

Though the Jewish calender is lunar, and thus isn't static like the Gregorian calender, there is one thing that is a given: Passover must always occur in the Spring, yippee! In order to make this happen we even have to insert an entire extra month some years, and that extra month is always a second month of Adar, which is right before Nissan, the month in which Passover occurs. Why am I telling you this? Because one of my very favorite things to do during the week of Passover is to take some trips around Northern Israel, not far from home, to enjoy the gorgeous topography and to witness fields of wild flowers in bloom, up close and in person.........something everyone should experience!

It is true, the flowers are on their own schedule, so the blooming period doesn't always coincide exactly with our plans, but this year, well, I had to squeal with delight as I saw little bushes of actual red poppies (as opposed to the red anemones that bloomed a good month ago.....) dotting the roadside hills all day long. I asked my husband if he would stop for me to photograph them, but that didn't really work out, instead I took a few photos to share with you when we arrived at our first stop.

Today we took a lovely road trip and saw some amazing holy sites, which I will share with you next week, but in the mean time I'll give you a sneak peak with a little flower show......hello red poppies!

March 10, 2017

Two days ago my daughter called to me "Mommy, come quickly!" you won't believe it! To our great delight we witnessed the largest group of migrating cranes flying overhead. Not one group exactly but three, one after the other, each one larger than groups of cranes we generally see every Spring and Fall as they make their journey to and from Europe. I have shared our little observation of migrating cranes many times, and honestly, I still get just as excited as I did the first time I saw these magnificent creature migrating over Jerusalem when we lived there. And when you realize how large these birds actually are, it is even more amazing.......

February 27, 2017

Yesterday when I took a walk with my son in the nearby fields, thinking that I was going to photograph some Almond blossoms, I was surprised to find that our native red anemones, that everyone just calls poppies, are also in bloom, which is so very exciting every time! Dots of red peeking out from new green growth of Spring is so very lovely, and I know so many of you love getting a glimpse of nature here in Israel, up close and in person, so here we go!

February 26, 2017

On Rosh Chodesh, the first day of each Jewish month, my kids have a half day of school, meaning it is the perfect time to take a little nature walk, and especially since Spring is here, and this month is Adar, a very joyful one indeed, and walking in nature surely gives us joy. As it turned out, only my 11 year old was actually available to go with Mom, and while there were delays as always, I'm glad we made the effort to get out the door, and taking photos as the sun is going down can be quite lovely!

Every year I post photos of the almond trees in bloom because it is truly magnificent and their blooms are the first sign of spring, which is always exciting. My son was so happy to get his bike out after a few months of rain and cold, and I was just happy to be out! I hope you'll enjoy my photos, and of course, any time I set out with camera in hand there are many things to capture, so this is just the first post with photos from our walk.

August 11, 2016

During an outing during the week of Passover we visited the cave of Rebbi Shimon in the historic town of Pekiin, and also visited the gravesite of Rabbi Oshaya nearby. It was a very lovely spot indeed, and quite moving to see the crowd of folks who arrived to pray in this special spot.

August 05, 2016

Not far from our home in Northern Israel there is a forest called the Baal Shem Tov forest, and within that very forest is a very special place: the burial site of the Tanna, Rebbi Shimon Ben Manasya. We visited this site in the Spring (though I am just getting around to sharing it with you now, sorry about that!) and with not a soul in sight we enjoyed every minute of this little adventure!

As it turns out, most of the burial spots of great sages tend to be located in special places with amazing views, and this site is no exception, you must visit sometime if you ever find yourself driving the road between Meron and The Holy City of Tsfat!

June 03, 2016

I am very blessed to live in an ancient city, one of the four holy citys in Israel, that is packed with inspiration, natural beauty, and loads of really important history, loads and loads. My town also happened to become one of the well known artist colonies after israel became a country in 1948, and it is no wonder, with the fresh mountain air and great light! After living here for almost ten years, with another five year stint before I was married, I have at long last come to the conclusion that simply photographing all this beauty is not enough. I have become inspired to paint! So I'm gathering up all my experience as an interior architect and designer, as a knits designer, as an art director in advertising, together with my varied education in the fields previously stated, and my last ten years or so of serious crafting, and I'm entering the world of fine art. Because if you know me, I'm always up for a challenge, and I guess I was in need of one, a great big one!